Untitled
by EternallyEC
Summary: John and Natalie get a devestating phone call...


**Disclaimer: **I own only Victoria, all else belongs to ABCD.

**Author's Note: **I wrote a scene of this (which has been edited only slightly for this) back in April sometime… I finished it a couple of months ago and thought I'd post it now rather than later—since I'm through with death for a while I'd rather get this posted while everyone's already depressed instead of waiting for us all to be excited over our guy's return. LOL

This fic is loosely based on "Untitled" by Simple Plan—mainly the music video, which is truly heart wrenching.

**Thanks: **To Dana for naming Victoria when I wrote the untitled scene (since her name wasn't mentioned and she felt she should have a name).

And a big thanks to Robin and Sydney for supporting my decision to finish and post it!

**Title: **Untitled

"Mrs. McBain?" Natalie felt as though her heart would stop at the official sound of the voice on the other line. She had gotten a bad feeling about the phone call before she had even answered it, knowing that a call that came at two thirty in the morning was not usually good news.

"Yes, this is she," she replied, trying desperately not to focus on the numerous scenarios for this call that were running through her head, each more horrible than the last.

"This is Officer Thomas from the LPD. Ma'am, there's been an accident…"

Fifteen minutes later, Natalie and John were rushing through the hospital trying to find someone who knew anything. Finally they saw Bo, and Natalie ran to him.

"Where is she? What happened?" she asked, her voice filled with the tears she had yet to allow herself to shed.

"We're not sure about all of the details yet, but… It looks as though the other driver was drunk, and he crashed into her. The wreck was pretty bad," he replied, trying to break the news as gently as possible.

"Who was the other driver?" John asked, seeing the look on Bo's face.

"It was Matthew," Bo said softly. A strangled gasp escaped Natalie's lips as she covered her mouth with her hand, shaking her head numbly.

"No… Oh god, Uncle Bo…"

"He's fine. Not a scratch on him," he said, just a touch of bitterness in his voice. "Victoria appears to be the only one who is suffering physically for his stupidity."

Natalie closed her eyes, fighting to remain strong as she tried to take in the fact that Matthew had put his own cousin in the hospital.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god…" she murmured. John put his hands on her shoulders and she covered them with her own, holding on tightly as she felt his touch calm her as it always did.

"Can we see her?"

"Of course you can," Michael's voice answered from behind them. "She's still in intensive care, so technically we're only supposed to allow one visitor. But she's in pretty bad shape, so I'll let you both in."

Natalie's heart sped up at his words. Michael bending hospital rules was certainly nothing new, but he usually only did it in extreme situations. Was their sixteen-year old daughter in such bad shape?

No, she shook her head. Victoria was just on her way back from spending the summer with Rex. God wouldn't be so cruel as to take her baby after she'd just spent three months without her…

"Thanks, Mikey," John said, seeing Natalie's eyes darken with her thoughts. "Where is she?"

Natalie had to fight back the urge to throw up as they walked into the hospital room. Victoria lay on the bed, her red hair a sharp contrast against the pale whiteness of the sheets. There were wires everywhere, and her face was badly bruised and cut up.

"Oh my god," John whispered, and Natalie knew that he was feeling the full gravity of the situation for the first time as well. She gave his hand a halfhearted squeeze as she moved to sit down in the chair next to the bed.

"Hey, Victoria," she whispered, trying desperately to hold back her tears.

"I'm going to go get some coffee," Natalie said softly after an hour had passed with no change, halfheartedly brushing away the tears on her cheeks. John nodded. "I'll be right back." She hugged him tightly and released him abruptly, almost running for the door.

John swallowed hard as he turned back to his daughter. She was pale from the blood loss and looked far too young to be on the brink of death. He took her hand into his and began to speak.

"Hey there sweetheart. I'm sure this isn't how you planned on spending your first night back home after being in the big city, now was it?" He gently brushed a stray red hair from her forehead, holding back a sob.

"I know it hurts baby, but you have to fight your way back to us. There's so much that you have left to do. You have your whole life stretching out in front of you."

He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it fiercely. "You're going to make it through this. You have to, because your mom and I—we have a surprise for you. We were going to tell you tomorrow night…"

John felt his vision blur but he made no move to wipe away the tears, the words spilling forth even faster. "Your mom was going to make lemon pepper chicken because it's your favorite and then we were going to tell you that you're going to be a big sister."

He managed to force a chuckle past the lump in his throat. "I know, we weren't supposed to enjoy you being out of the house that much. That's what you would say before you'd wrinkle up your nose in disgust."

He swallowed hard and let go of her hand, standing up and turning around, running a hand over his face as he searched the night sky from the hospital window, silently begging for answers.

"Daddy?" The voice was tiny and weak, but it was enough to bring John to his breaking point. Tears began to stream down his cheeks as he sat back down in the chair, taking his daughter's hand.

"I'm here sweetheart, I'm here. Are you okay?"

Her eyelids fluttered open and he ran a hand over her hair, leaning in to kiss her forehead fiercely.

"It hurts… It hurts so much," she murmured, her eyes begging his to do something. He had once been her hero, she'd thought he could do anything but she was old enough to know that he could do nothing for her.

The knowledge didn't stop some small part of her that was still five years old from believing that he could do it because he could do anything.

John's heart broke to hear her words and he pressed the call button for the nurse. "It's okay, you're here. The pain will pass. You just have to stay with us okay?"

Her eyes filled with tears as she gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "Tell Mom I love her, okay?"

John shook his head helplessly as he saw the truth in her eyes. "No, you're going to tell her." His voice cracked. "You're going to live through this."

She smiled sadly. "I never was as strong as you or Mom."

"I love you, Daddy." Her eyes slowly closed and her hand went limp in his as the machines went crazy around him.

The doctors raced into the room, pushing John aside. One pushed him towards the door and he slowly walked out, his mind numb with shock and disbelief.

Natalie was walking down the hallway holding two steaming paper cups of coffee when she heard the machines. A sense of dread overcame her and she set the cups on the nurse's desk as she began to run down the hall, heedless of the calls for her to slow down.

Her heart stopped when she saw John talking to the doctor. He looked over at her and the pain in his eyes was all the proof she needed that her worst nightmare had come true.

Natalie idly wondered who was screaming so loudly, and it was only as her world went black that she realized it was her.

FIN


End file.
